A Great Adventure ...

Hi Friends,
A few of you out there already know about this adventure, but since it has been so long since I've updated the site, I thought I would go ahead and post this as an update of something new I've learned in my walk ...

This past week, I asked for prayer from many family and friends as I traveled to Chicago for a business meeting. I decided to take David's Corvette out of storage and make a road-trip of it, hoping to also get some much needed quality quiet time with God ... The trip was definitely an adventure, but not really in the way I was hoping. It started off with car problems, lead to more car problems and ended in car problems! This is a lengthy report of how satan tries to steal and destory, so if you want the summary just drop down to the last paragraph ... but if you want to hear how BIG, yet intimate my God is ... Read the details :)

I originally planned to leave right after I got the kids into school, but Emma was not feeling well that morning, so I decided I needed to hang close to home for a little bit to make sure she was able to stay at school ... I think she was just tired after 2 full days of Kindergarten, but was also very aware that the last thing satan wanted me to do was leave town, so in prayer, I returned home to wait it out ... it turned out it was a good thing because I ended up needing to be there for a few important work emails ... after taking care of those and not hearing from the school, I thought I was a ‘go’. As I finished packing the case of Mt Dew for the trip, I was ready to head north to get the Vette (stored at the farm) ... much to my frustration, I discovered the Pilot was completely dead. Plagued with various issues with this car this summer, I determined it was a dead battery ... putting it on the charger, I decided to take the 15-20 minutes to pick up around the house, unload dishwasher, water flowers and change laundry ... Thanking God for the ‘free 20 mins’ to get so much done, I checked on the car and it was still dead!! I called my brother to get a refresher on how to hook a charger up to a car, to make sure I had done it right. Talking through different things, I decided to unattach/reattach the cables ... When I reattached them, the car alarm starts blaring, lights flashing and gauges clicking on/off. My remote would not turn the alarm off, so all I could think to do was take the charger off, which, by the way, is counterproductive to charging a dead battery. After talking it through with my brother, I had a thought of manually unlocking the doors to turn the alarm off ... It worked! Alarm off ... Battery charging ... 20 minutes later, I was on the road!

I made it to Bucyrus and switched over to the Vette and was on my way! About an hour into the trip, I decide to plug in the iPod for some Worship. Much to my frustration, the iPod was registering as a dead battery! (Catching a theme here? CHARGE ME LORD, CHARGE ME!!) This was actually very odd, as I was pretty sure I had charged it the night before. I pulled my computer out and plugged the iPod into it to charge it a little bit, and my computer died! Now I KNOW it has a 3 hour battery!! Ok, whatever ... Maybe God just wants me to listen for a little bit. So I traveled along in silence, trying to hear ... But nothing ... I tried to talk ... But I really didn’t have anything to say. I tried to think of the different things I wanted to discuss, but my mind was completely blank. Just odd ... I really felt like He was just saying ‘don’t force anything Jill ... just enjoy the drive’. So I did .... All 6 hours of it, pretty much in silence.

As I got closer to Chicago, I was REALLY regretting not staying downtown. I had decided to not bother with downtown area since my meeting was in the suburbs, but as the skyline got closer and closer, I was REALLY wishing I had been more brave. Finally, I thought ... I’m going to order a famous Gino’s Pizza and drive downtown to pick it up on the way to my hotel. A quick google search on my phone gave me a number, I called and ordered and redirected my GPS. As I was getting off the highway, my fuel light came on so I decided to stop for gas on the way to Ginos ... The city was just beautiful, starting to light up as I exited the highway ... I pulled into the first gas station I found, filled up and then back to finding my way to get the pizza! One problem ... The vette wouldn’t start! Nothing. Dead. I got out, looked at the gas cap thinking maybe I forgot to do something, but all looked okay ... Got back in the car ... Nothing. It almost sounded like it was flooded. I had all my interior lights and gauges, but it would not start. So, I called my Dad ... Dad/Mom happened to be away that weekend, too, on a bus tour to Michigan ... he just so happened to be at a table with a bunch of other Corvette guys, so after Q&A and discussing possibilities, the consensus was either a dead battery or a bad alternator. Recap ... downtown Chicago ... starting to get dark ... in a car with no power ... a Corvette, no less! I started to panic. Dad is suggesting I call AAA, see if it can be jumped, but if it was indeed the alternator, there was always a chance it would stop running on the highway ... did I mention I was in downtown Chicago?!? Ever been on those highways? Not a good place to loose power!!! I was still 45 minutes from my hotel (which by the way, Vic, was in Schaumburg!!!) ... now in a full sweat, I hung up with Dad and prayed ‘God help me’ ... I looked around trying to see if I thought anyone ‘looked trustworthy' to ask for a jump ... but, didn’t Ted Bundy ‘look trustworthy’ ... just as my mind was wandering to more horrendous thoughts, I looked up into my rearview mirror to see a tow truck pull up right behind me! Thank you, God! I jumped out and asked him if he could give me a jump ... he was able to and the car started right up! Now to find out if it was the battery or alternator ... If it’s the battery, we’re talking $100 repair that can be done in a parking lot of an Autozone ... if it’s the alternator, we’re probably talking double that or more and having to find a mechanic to do it ... in downtown Chicago, now at 8:00 at night, while still making my meeting tomorrow, which is why I’m here, remember?!?! Not to mention that if it is the alternator, GETTING to a mechanic is going to be a difficult task, in itself.

With the car now running, I was reminded not to turn it off again, until I knew I was where I needed to be, possibly for the night ... Of course, I still have a pizza I need to get ... At this point, though, I’m starting to get emotional ... Ticked off, more like it ... I FINALLY have something to say to God ... ‘God, all I wanted to do was get away with you this weekend ... I just wanted some time with you! Where are you!? I don’t understand why this has to be so difficult, where are you!?!’

I continue to work myself towards the pizza place, while at the same time googling on my phone to find the nearest Autozone (I later find out that it is ILLEGAL to talk/text on your phone while driving in Chicago ... Thankfully, I was not ‘officially warned’ of this, but I did receive many honks, gestures and eventually the guy at my hotel front desk warned me!) ... I pulled up to a valet next to the restaurant and explained the situation to the bellhop ... He kindly watched my car while I ran to get the pizza ... Thank you, God the car was still there when I returned! Back in the car, with what is becoming a VERY EXPENSIVE pizza, I finally got a number for an Autozone and called them ... They were open until 9pm (now 8:30), but were in the opposite direction of my hotel ... I decided it was my best option, but THANK GOD as the guy was finalizing directions with me, he ‘happened to mention’ that they were located in the ‘black neighborhood, but not to worry we’ve got you covered’. I hung up with him in another full sweat with all the warnings from my Moms running in my head about watching my surroundings and not doing anything dumb ... Hey, even without their warnings, I’ve seen Griswold’s Vacation and know EXACTLY what happens to hubcaps in those neighborhoods ... Can you imagine ... white girl from Ohio in Corvette?! I called him back and thanked him for his kindness, but not to wait for me because I had decided to head to my hotel and handle the issue in the morning. What do you suppose made him tell me he was in a black neighborhood?? Thank you, God.

PRAISE GOD I had my GPS because with each reroute of the plan, I had to pull over and redirect the GPS ... Ever drive downtown Chicago? Those cabbies are not very kind with needing to pull over for ANYTHING!! Between multiple calls to/from my family, I decided to call my hotel to ask them of an Autozone near the hotel. Turns out, there was one about 10-15 minutes away, so I rerouted the GPS AGAIN and prayed it was not in a bad neighborhood, that they would not close before I got there AND that the issue was the battery, not the alternator ... Oh yeah, and please let me be able to make the meeting tomorrow.

They were open until 10pm ... Thank you God ... They were able to test the car and confirmed the alternator was fine, it was a very dead battery ... They were able to change it right in the parking lot, as I chatted with a guy about his own 64 Corvette and the Lotus he used to own! Now, how I got 6 hours away with a very dead battery, who knows ... Probably the whole time I’m trying to have that conversation with God, He’s probably thinking ‘honey, can you hold off on that deep stuff ... I’m concentrating on something big here!’

So, after the crazy day, I FINALLY headed to the hotel ... made all the necessary calls to my praying family ... ate my cold $120 pizza with a warm Dew and went to bed, too tired to do anything else. While I did thank Him for keeping me safe, I ‘secretly’ hoped He had much more than this planned for the weekend!

The next morning, I got up early to prepare for my meeting and to make sure the car would start while it was early, just in case. All was good and I made it to my meeting and it went great ... Really great! God is truly opening some doors in the business, no other way to explain it. I went to find some lunch ... but after lunch, I got back into the car for my NEXT adventure ... The computer was now telling me ‘service car soon, check tire pressure’. Another call to my Dad ... Is this a big deal, or do I just need to check them? Remind me what SHOULD the tire pressure be ... I then found a gas station to check the tires. Thankfully David, being a true car guy + VERY responsible, has a tire gauge in each car! I started to put air in the tires and after a couple pumps, it stopped working! I looked at the hose attachment and the little do-hickey in the center broke! It’s metal, how does it break!?! Do things like this happen to any of you?!?!?!!! As I’m fiddling with it, these guys pull up and ask if I need help (I’m such a target!!) ... They confirm that it’s broke and redirect me to another gas station down the road. Of course, I’m so paranoid at this point that as I pull out of the first gas station, I watch my mirror to make sure those guys don’t follow me ... This next one worked and all the tires seemed to be fine ... But I pushed a little air in all 4 and the warnings turned off. Returning to my hotel, I’m starting to wonder if maybe God just wants me to stay in the room?!?

Later that night, my Mom calls to check in on me and to try to one-up my adventure by telling me that while they were on the dinner cruise they had traveled to do, their tour bus was stolen!!! STOLEN!! Have you ever heard of that before, other than in a movie?!?! Yep, our family seems to like to experience it all!!!!! They eventually found out that it was actually towed by what they were told was one big truck! I told her that if she wanted to one-up my adventure, she was welcome to it ... I did thank her, though, for encouraging me because I was thinking my trip had been pretty crappy, but at least the vette hadn’t been stolen!!!

The rest of the evening was pretty quiet, as was the following morning as I checked out and headed home. Too quiet, for for what I was hoping. As I headed home, I decided to at least spend some time in Worship, but the iPod battery AGAIN was dead, even after I INTENTIONALLY charged it all night this time!! Interesting, huh. As I passed through the city, I did not venture downtown this time ... no craving for pizza ... and just as I got to the other side of the city, the car computer chimed a warning again ... ‘check gauges/low fuel’ ... then the fuel gauge dropped from 3/4 tank to EMPTY! I had just filled up and could see that I was not leaking anything, so I knew it was okay ... just like that, the gauge just broke! So, I rode 6 hours in silence, with no idea of how much fuel I had ... Hearing nothing.

The moral of the adventure ... God is good, even when He doesn’t speak. I can’t explain how I feel about that. In an intimate way, I think God was showing me a couple of things ... first, there really isn’t a whole lot that I need to say, and not a whole lot that He needs to tell me right now ... I’m actually okay with that ... I also really feel satan tried to use the trip as an attack on my confidence in being able to do things like this on my own, all the while God continues to show me that I CAN’T do ANYTHING on my own ... That is not His plan ... He wants us to need Him in EVERYTHING, big and small ... Remember, our need is all that we have to give Him. Not only that, but He puts people in our lives for us, too ... to help us when we need help ... to pray for us when we need prayer ... to call when we need help ... to cry with us when we cry and to laugh with us when we laugh ... My peeps! That is a lesson that is just killing me. I don’t like to be so needy. I hate it. It’s one thing to be needy of Him, but it is quite another to need my family and friends ... I hate it. I know there is more for me to learn here, but it is killing something huge in me ... I think named Pride ... which I know all too well will not want to go easily, or quietly.

So, in summary ... trip was an adventure ... God showed up, even though He was silent ... meeting went well ... very well ... and both the Vette and I returned home safely .... both of which still need a thing or two worked on. Thank you for your prayers. WHO KNOWS how the weekend would have turned out WITHOUT the prayer coverage!!

WHITE GIRL FOUND ON CURB EATING PIZZA IN CHICAGO HOOD.

Thank you, also, for your grace in allowing me to be so needy ... wait ‘til I tell you about the next adventure I think God may be sending me on this fall ... If I can survive Chicago, can I survive Israel? Hmmmm .....

Please keep praying ...
Jill



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